


All I See Are These Strange Tides

by Katyakora



Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Implied Violence, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-01
Updated: 2017-01-01
Packaged: 2018-09-13 22:43:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,528
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9145408
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Katyakora/pseuds/Katyakora
Summary: Empathy causes more problems than you might think.In which a struggling teenage metahuman meets her heroes and attempts to give them the best reward she can think of: happiness.





	

**Author's Note:**

> In response to this prompt:  
> "a young meta human (16-17) is an empath (can both make people feel and can feel others emotions) and working with Team Flash. Well Barry, Iris, and Len are all pinning over each other and the poor kid is in the middle of it. Finally the empath gets enough and basically says "y'all need to work this out like grown ups or I'm gonna lock you in a room" then nice sexy times for Coldwestallen:)"
> 
> Unfortunately, the route my mind took meant the sexytimes are only implied, but I hope this is close to what you were looking for.

People seemed to think that emotions came and went; like they were just empty until a burst of feeling filled them, only to drain away. The truth, as Phoebe had discovered, was that emotions were an ever-present ocean that ebbed and flowed. Everyone had their own tides and currents, the foremost feelings were simply the waves that crashed upon the shore, slipping away to be replaced by another.

 

Everyone was an ocean, and Phoebe's tired, battered mind was the shore, slowly being ground away by the relentless seas.

 

Not everyone was the same, however. She had liked Leonard when she met him. His emotions had been quiet and contained; a cold, still lake on a windless day, just the barest of ripples to touch her. It had been almost soothing, a relief after being under so much pressure for so long. She hadn't meant to show him that, but it was getting harder and harder to hold back her own emotions. These days, she could barely tell what was hers and what wasn’t.

 

Phoebe had cringed and babbled apologies when she realised what she'd done, because she'd felt his surprise and spark of fear and alarm in response. But he didn’t get angry as she had expected. Instead, the lake rippled with concern. He was nice. He asked her questions in a low, calm voice, as soothing as the gentle lull of his emotions. He didn’t get upset when she couldn’t answer him in a way a normal person could understand, he simply rephrased the question to get the answer he was looking for. Occasionally, anger did churn his waters, but it was only ever in response to the past events she described. He seemed to have a particular hate for her father, but in all honesty, so did Phoebe.

 

Leonard had said he knew people who might be able to help her, who could teach her to control and understand her gifts. He had been sincere when he had said he would be back for her. She wondered if he was there now, back in the alley where they’d met, waiting for her, wondering why she wasn’t there like she’d promised. Phoebe shivered in the dark, empty room she’d been tossed into. It didn’t matter, in the end. She had felt the crushing fear and despair of the others as she was regaining consciousness, while strange men dragged her down a dingy hallway lined with doors. This place was a black hole that no one ever escaped. Leonard would assume she’d run off and forget all about her. She was alone and no one was coming for her.

 

Phoebe didn’t know how long she was there. The tide of emotions coming from the rooms wouldn’t let her sleep, and the few times anyone had attempted to enter her cell, she’d instinctively lashed out with fear. She could still smell the stink from when one of them had pissed himself. Hunger gnawed at her ribs, an unfortunately familiar sensation for her. She was so mired in the misery surrounding her that the sudden rush of shock and _hope_ hit her like a tidal wave. She moved to the door to listen, the distant sound of shouts and gunshots reaching her ears. She heard doors opening and now it was hope and relief cascading over her, enough to make her cry. Whatever was happening out there, it was enough to lift the miasma of despair the others had lived in.

 

The sea parted for a calm lake and a swift river, and Phoebe knew exactly who was on the other side of the door when it opened this time. She rushed out blindly as soon as it was open, bombarding Leonard with her happiness and gratitude as she clutched him tightly. Fear rippled at the unexpected contact but it was swiftly beaten down by his relief and he settled a hesitant arm around her.

 

“You came back,” she realised she was chanting into his parka, “you came back!”

 

“Of course I did,” he responded, slightly embarrassed by her emotional affection, stiffly patting her back. “I made a promise, and I always keep my promises.”

 

“I’ll have to remember that,” a new voice muttered, and Phoebe was reminded of the river that had arrived with Leonard. She turned her head to see a beautiful, dark-skinned woman with a pistol in her hand, blood on her knuckles and a bruise on her cheek, grinning from ear to ear at them. She radiated satisfaction and pride, but not quite enough to hide the steady swell of...infatuation? No, it was deeper than that, an ardency born from respect and empathy. Phoebe was familiar with infatuation and lust, far more than she would have liked, and she had always prefered love to the other emotions, for obvious reasons. This wasn’t love, not yet, but it was the seed of it, gaining momentum as it flowed with the river of the woman’s mind, and Phoebe could actually feel it growing. She decided that she liked that emotion; it was soft and sweet, a gentle pulse beating beneath the others.

 

“Outside of villainous endeavours, of course,” Leonard amended, and while his tone was cool, Phoebe felt his ever calm lake shiver with ripples of wistfulness, a seed just like the woman’s flaring just below the surface before it was pulled back down. “Don’t worry, Iris. I wouldn’t have found this place in time without you and I know it. A deal is a deal.”

 

“And they say there’s no honour among thieves,” Iris teased lightly, smirking at him. She turned her gentle eyes on Phoebe. “Are you okay, sweetheart?” she asked softly. “Len’s been worried sick about you.” Iris’s words sent a ripple of embarrassment through Leonard, with a pulse of happiness from that seed.

 

“I...I’m okay,” Phoebe realised. Between Leonard’s cool calm and Iris’s honest warmth, Phoebe felt safe. Their affection for each other, although still fragile and new, was like a balm to her after the horror that had been weighing her down. It washed over her like their banter as they led her out of the building. She found herself hoping it would continue to grow, and if she pushed just a tiny drop of that hope into them, well that was entirely accidental.

* * *

 

It was at times like this that Phoebe wished she really didn’t have those pesky little morals Len was always complaining about.

 

When she had first met the Flash, all those weeks ago, she had almost lost herself in the storm of his emotions. She worked hard, training every day of her stay at STARlabs, wrestling control back so that she might be able to stand in the same room with him without causing him a whirlpool of guilt and self-loathing that he didn’t deserve. Her hard work had paid off, and for the first time since the particle accelerator explosion, she felt like a person again. Now, she could not only hold herself back from bleeding her emotions into others, she could also pick emotions to block out, although there was only so many she could do at a time. Trying to hold back the whole tide quickly drained her, but it was okay because she had learned how to handle the information. Emotions to longer drowned her, but flowed past her, and she was getting better every day at ignoring the background noise.

 

That being said, some things were too loud to ignore.

 

Leonard visited often, ostensibly to check up on Phoebe’s progress. He was genuinely interested in her well-being, and had even arranged for an older couple he knew, thieves who’d managed to retire, to foster her once she had a handle on her powers. But he couldn’t hide from Phoebe the little ripples of happiness, want and wistfulness he felt whenever Iris or Barry happened to be there too. That discovery had surprised her; that there was seed below Len’s surface that pulsed for Barry, just as there was one for Iris. They grew with every visit, just as Iris’s did, her seed for Len sprouting in the shade of the old, sturdy love she felt for Barry. By the time Phoebe had enough control to spend any length of time around Barry, it took her all of six seconds to know that Barry’s love for Iris was rooted in his bones, but there was also a small vine for Len growing steadily around it.

 

(Cisco and Caitlin had been trying to get Phoebe to stop speaking largely in metaphors. She was trying, but it wasn’t her fault the english language often failed to adequately describe her unique perceptions.)

 

All this growth, nurtured and encouraged by an innocently invested empath, had not quite led to where Phoebe wanted it. It had been her hope that the three of them, who were plainly head over heels for each other, would acknowledge this, do something about the unresolved sexual tension they left dripping from the ceiling, and live happily ever after. Or at least something along those lines. Phoebe didn’t really care as long as there was a happy resolution to all the longing looks and wistful sighs. Even Cisco and Caitlin had noticed something was weird between those three by now. The longer Phoebe stayed there, the more Len came around, the more the three of them bantered and sparred and fell steadily further in love only for Leonard walk away at the end of the day like his heart wasn’t heavier every time, like they didn’t watch him go with regret in their eyes.

 

They made for fantastic practice, blocking out all those muddy emotions, but all Phoebe wanted was for them to be happy, and she was starting to consider drastic measures. Hence her rather mutinous thoughts towards her own morals.

 

Longing was a crappy emotion, Phoebe decided as she watched Iris, Leonard and Barry banter back and forth in the middle of STAR labs. Cisco and Caitlin had both made themselves scarce not long after Len arrived, both radiating the annoyance and impatience Phoebe herself was feeling towards the trio. She blocked out the longing, adding a shield to block out any feelings of desire as well. Those always sparked up at the most unexpected times between these three, and was always something Phoebe felt uncomfortable knowing. With her blocks up, happiness, intrigue, and contentment were able to make themselves known, albeit quieter than the dominant emotions she’d blocked out. There was a dark twist in there somewhere, jealousy? No, guilt. Of course, Barry felt guilty for being captivated every time Leonard spoke, never mind the fact he was just as entranced by Iris. Iris, with her little pebbles of confusion, ever present in her river since her feelings for Len had bloomed. Leonard’s lake was so thick with regret and acceptance these days it was almost choking.

 

It was the same every time, and when she didn’t block it out, over top of everything sat a thick fog of hideous _longing_ that made her want to scream just so she could breath. Phoebe ground her teeth as they went back and forth, all of them suffering and all because none of them knew just how dear they had become to each other. It was ridiculous, this whole drama was just so utterly pointless!

 

**_“Oh my god, you love each other, just admit it already!”_ **

 

Silence followed Phoebe’s outburst. The trio stared at her with matching stunned expressions, mortification slowly freezing them. Nobody moved. Phoebe groaned, all the frustrations she’d been holding back bursting forth like a broken dam.

 

“Seriously, I can barely think through the three of you pining! The sexual tension is condensing on the walls and every time one of you makes an innuendo the other two make me wanna take a shower! You love each other! There, you don’t even have to admit it! And I know I’m not supposed to share things people wouldn’t want to be shared but I have been damming this up for weeks! You’re all just a little bit miserable and it’s so _stupid_ because you’re all trying to be so selfless to make the others happy but you make _eachother_ happy and I just want you to be happy together!”

 

Phoebe was panting heavily by the end of her rant, and she felt all the tension leave her body in a rush. Her knees felt week and she sat heavily. Despite this, she felt immensely better. Iris, Barry and Leonard were still gaping at her in shock, but their mortification was slowly being cracked by hope.

 

“Um...wow,” Barry broke the silence eloquently.

 

“Are we...really that bad?” Iris asked, her words oozing guilt. Phoebe nodded vehemently.

 

“It seems I misread the situation…” Leonard mused, his piercing gaze flicking back and forth between Barry and Iris.

 

“You misre- I thought you only came around to see Phoebe!” Barry burst out.

 

“Really Scarlet, I know you can be naive, but come on,” Leonard drawled. “I’ve been here almost every day.”

 

“Wait,” Iris interrupted, her sharp eyes on Phoebe, “you said ‘love’ _._ As in, you know, _love_ love?”

 

Phoebe nodded her reply, immensely satisfied by the happiness blooming in all three of them, even if Leonard’s was wrapped in fear and anxiety.

 

“I wouldn’t go that far,” he huffed defensively.

 

“I would,” Phoebe affirmed with an unimpressed look. “You’re a thief, aren’t you? Stop lying to yourself and take what you want.” With that, she hopped to her feet and walked out, leaving the trio to work things out between themselves; she couldn’t do _all_ the work for them, after all. She spent a moment contemplating whether or not to lock them in so that they had no choice but to hash things out. She did in the end, not because the lock had any chance of holding up against a speedster or a thief, but because the feelings bleeding through the door were becoming increasingly fervid. The last thing they needed was for someone to wander in and interrupt, especially after Phoebe had gone through so much trouble to get them to act on their feelings.

 

In the beginning, Phoebe had liked Leonard because his feelings were so still they were barely there. Now, two weeks after her outburst at the lab, as he introduced her to her new foster parents, his presence no longer felt like a near-frozen lake. Now, Phoebe felt like she sat in the warm shallows of a lagoon. It was still and quiet as he had always been, but the soft waves of love and happiness lapped gently at her mind. She couldn’t believe she had ever prefered it cold and empty. When she hugged him as he said goodbye, the gentle waves swelled a little with affection. They’d both come so far in such a short time.

 

“Hey Kid?” he said quietly as he put a hand on the door. “Thanks for the push.”

  
“Thanks for being my hero,” she responded in kind. The way he wrinkled his nose in offence at the title failed to distract her from how much those words meant to him.

**Author's Note:**

> Ending is meh, but I had to end it somehow. Sorry, Phoebe kind of took this over. It was really interesting exploring all the potential of an empath though.  
> Title is from Strange Tides, by Shakes


End file.
